The Monster
by Asshatry
Summary: They find Negan where they least expect him. (GENDER NEUTRAL OC)


No one had seen Negan all day. He didn't disappear often, but when he did, things around The Sanctuary were a lot more laid back. People didn't seem as tense as they did when he was around, even if all of his men were still patrolling. Still, I couldn't help but be curious of where he had gone off to.

I got called down to the kitchen and one of the women working there asked me to deliver some food to a nearby settlement. I packed one of the cars with the few boxes she had instructed me to bring and started driving towards my destination.

I wondered why I was taking food to people. Negan and his men usually took from settlements. This was out of the ordinary.

I saw the building right away. The colors had started to fade on the old community center, but the large rainbow above the door still seemed to pop with its bright colors. I drove around a water fountainthat had long since dried up; copper pennies decorated the floor of it. I parked the car right in the front and stopped the engine. I had been too busy studying the building that I hadn't noticed Negan's truck parked on the side of the building. I could just see the front peaking out. I walked over to his truck and saw it was empty. Negan would be inside. But why here?

I headed back to the front of the building and opened the unlocked door. The hallway was empty of people, but the walls were still decorated in children's drawings. The pictures looked like they had been there since before the walkers. My eyes were drawn to a picture of a house with a stick figure family holding hands in front of it. There were big colored arrows on the wall too, directing people towards the different rooms. I continued on, hoping to find the supposed survivors here.

Photos also decorated the walls and I couldn't help but look at them as I made my way further inside. I figured they must have been taken during a talent show because there was a magician wielding a magic wand in one hand and a bunny in the other. A little girl appeared to be singing in another photo. Another was walking on her hands on the same stage. I smiled while I looked at these photos. They were sweet memories.

I suddenly heard a large roaring noise come from down the hall, and at first I was on alert. My hand immediately went to my holstered gun, but I froze when I recognized the voice.

Curious, I moved quickly and quietly down the hallway until I reached the room the noises were coming from. Peaking my head inside, my eyes widened with surprise to see Negan.

He was sitting in a big recliner with a book in his hands and he was reading it out loud. Sitting in front of him on a multicolored carpet were children. There had to have been at least 15 of them and they were of all different ages. Some looked like they couldn't be older than 3. The oldest looked to be about 12 years old. Most of them were watching him intently as he continued reading the children's book. Others played with little toy magnets that were scattered on the floor. A little boy held up a toy airplane and moved it through the air. A woman sat across the room at a desk writing on papers. She looked like a teacher.

I stared at the scene before me almost in shock. I would have never guessed Negan to be here of all places. And reading to children?! I must have been gawking when a voice came from behind me and made me jump.

"Excuse me? Are you here with our supplies?" A young man was standing in the hallway and was waiting patiently for me to reply. I moved away from the doorway and turned to him, trying not to appear like he had just scared the crap out of me.

"Yep. They're in the car." I said, pointing in the direction of the front doors. He nodded and started walking that way. I watched him go outside and then turned my attention back to the classroom. I noticed large sunflowers decorating the walls. They looked new. It was such a stark contradiction behind the man I had come to known. Someone so dark had a soft side.

He was still reading the book, holding it up so the children could see the pictures. He was pretending to be a monster, animating with his face and free hand. The children giggled as he growled and read the words in a low voice. I leaned against the door, watching him. I couldn't help but smile. He finished reading the book and set it down and the children all began playing with the many toys around the room.

He looked up and over at me and I felt chills. His expression was blank as he stared at me and then got up from the recliner. Lucille had been lying against the side of the chair and he picked her up and started making his way towards me in the hallway. Walking by a boy, he set his hand on his head and ruffled his hair and the kid looked up at Negan with a big smile.

I took a few steps back from the doorway as he came out, pulling the door shut. I thought maybe he would chew me out for starring. Or threaten me for discovering his secret.

Instead, he just grinned and winked. And then turned from me and started towards the exit.

I stood there speechless, still not sure what I had just witnessed. Negan, the man so many people were terrified of, spent his free time reading to children.

 _Not as much of a monster as he would have us to believe._


End file.
